


I Think I Found Love Within

by coupe_de_foudre



Series: Love Within [1]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Crime Fighting, Deviancy (Detroit: Become Human), Fluff and Angst, Gavin Reed Whump, Hurt Gavin Reed, M/M, Protective Upgraded Connor | RK900, Soft Upgraded Connor | RK900, Swearing, Torture, Whump, but like mild, gavin reed is fiesty af
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-22
Updated: 2019-01-22
Packaged: 2019-10-14 16:45:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17512268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coupe_de_foudre/pseuds/coupe_de_foudre
Summary: The warning was a bright red in the corner of Nines’ vision, ‘conflicting orders…must protect Detective Reed’. The second part was new, flickering uncertainly but still there.^syst3m instab1lity^Nines doesn’t move.





	I Think I Found Love Within

**Author's Note:**

> Wonderful prompt from [gameseverywhere](https://gameseverywhere.tumblr.com/) on Tumblr. Thank you so much, I hope you like this!!
> 
> Special thanks to [JessLovesBooks](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JessLovesBooks/pseuds/JessLovesBooks) for the lovely comments, you really helped motivate me to write today! Welcome to the weird onslaught of random fics posted at random times because I'm unorganised af and always inspired unexpectedly!! I hope you enjoy your stay xD
> 
> Title from OwO by Kodama Boy on YouTube.
> 
> Slight warnings for mentions of torture? If it counts as that...it's basically just punches though.
> 
> Happy reading, snowflakes <3

Cases went wrong on more occasions than Gavin would like to admit – though, granted, most of them weren’t even his cases. Mistakes happened; human or android, the perps were always unpredictable.

So, when he and Nines were ambushed by a large group of guys, big and burly baring knives and guns, Gavin could only roll his eyes. Of fucking course, because working an undercover case on a Monday wasn’t bad enough already.

Rough hands grabbed at his arms, snarls and shouts echoing through his ears, which were ringing from a warning shot directed at him when he’d threatened to beat up the guy closest to him. Nines had been grabbed by the arms from behind by three of the biggest men, securing his hands behind his back to stop him from retaliating.

The tattoos inked into the biceps of each gang member were all those of the ‘anti-android’ collection of tattoos that had started growing in population amongst those that protested the use of androids. Gavin scoffed. Stupid pricks. Even when he’d disliked the idea of androids he’d never resented them enough to taint his body with such filth.

His tattoos were tasteful and certainly not discriminating.

They start to drag him into the desolate warehouse nearby, which was exactly where he and Nines had been heading before it all went to shit. Gavin flailed his arms, grounding his heels, but it was to no avail; no amount of physical training, even against Nines, was enough to get him out of the iron grasps of these pricks. All the words under the sun were spilling from his mouth like running water, and he didn’t even stop as a punch was landed to his stomach – only groaning in pain for a moment before starting up again.

If Gavin was going to be taken down by these guys, he wasn’t going to let it be easy.

Nines was being pushed along, the android taking slow and steady steps forward without speaking. One of his handlers was holding a gun to Nines’ thirium pump, which explained his partner’s lack of a fight. Gavin pushed down the worry that erupted at the thought of Nines being in potential danger.

The glazed look of those icy blue eyes would appear normal to these guys, but Gavin could see that the android was scanning everything within a close enough range – he was probably trying to calculate a way to escape. Judging by the flashing red of his LED and the fact that they were severely outnumbered (fucking idiots miscalculating the damn case, Gavin was going to go mental when they got back to the precinct) it was clear to him that there wasn’t going to be a way out. Not yet, at least.

Gavin has to actually resist the urge to roll his eyes when he sees a fucking chair in the middle of the side room that they’re pulled into. “Wow, really fucking original.” he scoffs, instead. The remark earns him a swift kick in the shins but Gavin still manages out a weak chuckle.

The two guys that have a hold of him push him into the chair, a third man sauntering over with a smug grin – and a flash of gold and black teeth – swinging some rope in his hand. Gavin struggled against the two holding him, hands moving around enough to make it hard for them to tie him up.

Seriously, when he’d woken up this morning he hadn’t planned for his day to be going like this.

“Get your fucking hands off me!” Gavin growled, spitting at the floor and tugging at the rope now wrapped uncomfortably tight around his wrists. It was pointless, he knew, but he wasn’t going to just sit here and put up with this.

“Shut the fuck up,” someone shouts, and suddenly a fist is colliding with his nose and a blinding pain erupts across Gavin’s face. He winced, eyes squeezed shut for a moment before blinking them open to send the deadliest glare at his attacker. The guy just smiled wickedly at him.

His nose was throbbing, head pounding, and he could feel the warm blood trickling down his face. The metallic smell of it filled his nose.

“That’s better.” his attacker laughed, wiping blood from his knuckles. Gavin snarled, tongue darting out to swipe at the drops of fresh blood now dripping onto his upper lip. His fists clenched, but they were tied tightly behind his back and no amount of wiggling was going to free them. This clearly wasn’t the first time these guys had done this.

Gavin looks over to his partner. Nines is stood a good few metres away, unharmed for now but surrounded by three guys – one with a gun and two with knives. Fucking fantastic.

*

“Don’t fucking move, you got it tin-can?” one of the guys says, angling the knife in his hand towards Nines’ face for a moment.

The android in question nods stiffly, a new objective flitting up to join his original two – one also fairly recent.

**Objectives:**

**> Take Down Criminals**

**> Protect Detective Reed**

**_> Don’t Move_ **

The warning, **‘conflicting orders’** popped up, but Nines ignored it.

**_^system instability^_ **

If he moved, the detective was sure to get hurt. And chances of completing this case would drop to 43% which was too low for the android’s liking. So he stayed still.

Instead, Nines watched from his position as the ringleader of the group – the man who’d caused the bruising across the detective’s nose – stepped closer to the detective once again and leant down to be at his level. The glare from the detective was cold enough to send shivers through any human, surely.

The man in Gavin’s face didn’t even speak before the detective spat in his face. Blood was slowly trickling down from his nose and to his lip still, but the detective paid this no mind. The ringleader of the gang growled, much like a wild animal, and grabbed Gavin by the throat – large hand landing an ear-splitting slap across the side of the detective’s bruised face. “Fuckin’ bitch!”

“Nines, fuckin’ beat the shit outta them! What are you waiting for?” Gavin shouted, his voice hoarse and another punch is thrown his way. He hardly winces.

The warning returned, **‘conflicting orders’**. Nines would do what the detective had said, but he couldn’t.

A manic laugh comes from the leader, and he tosses Gavin back into the chair with a disgusted look. “You think he’s gonna listen to you? He’s just a fuckin’ machine! He doesn’t care about you, he just cares about his fuckin’ mission.”

Gavin scowled at the man.

“Watch, don’t believe me?” the man taunted, waving at his men and gesturing towards Gavin. “Teach this guy a lesson for thinking he can stick his fuckin’ nose in our business. And you, stay put or else your pretty face will be smashed in.” The last part was directed at Nines with a grossly flirtatious smirk.

This time, the warning was a bright red in the corner of Nines’ vision, **‘conflicting orders… _must protect Detective Reed’_**. The second part was new, flickering uncertainly but still there.

**_^syst3m instab1lity^_ **

Nines doesn’t move.

“What did I tell ya?” the guy practically sings, unwashed hands landing on Gavin’s shoulder. The detective winces, bleeding and bruised after enduring punch after punch from these criminals. His left eye was painted purple and blue, struggling to remain open.

Head hung low, his fringe covering most of his face, but Nines could scan him from here and his injuries were definitely worse than he was playing them off to be. How did he not give up? He hardly stood a chance against these men and yet he refused to admit defeat – still spitting insults at each man that threw another punch or kick to his beaten body.

Nines didn’t understand.

The detective was so much stronger than he’d realised, and Nines had gotten to know him well in the seven months that they’ve been partners; he already knew Gavin was strong, mentally and physically, and he knew he had a temper and a liking for caffeine and cats. But, Nines hadn’t quite witnessed strength like this before – especially not from the detective.

**_^5ySt3m 1Nst4b1liTy^_ **

The objective of **‘don’t move’** flickered…disappearing for a moment before returning once again. Nines felt something inside him twist unnaturally.

“Nines…” that voice, Gavin’s voice, quiet and broken but still there. Still defiant. It rings through Nines’ system, and he practically feels the detective’s whisper through his wires, warm and familiar and…oh.

Something snaps. Maybe not literally but figuratively.

Nines gasps.

**Objectives:**

**~~> Take Down Criminals~~ **

**_> Protect Detective Reed_ **

**~~> Don’t Move~~ **

The warnings kept coming and going, flashing red and angry across his vision, **‘conflicting orders… _must protect Detective Reed_ … _must keep Gavin safe’_**.

Nines is hardly aware of his surroundings, everything losing saturation and blurring out as a red screen flashes up in front of him. The orders are written across it, morphed out of shape, broken up and barely readable. But Nines recognises this; it’s the red wall. The one that Connor has mentioned so many times.

Deviancy.

Nines had never expected it to happen to him; he was a machine designed to accomplish a task. His task was to serve as a DPD officer alongside Gavin Reed.

Perhaps the most surprising realisation was that it was Gavin Reed himself (the hot-headed, sleep-deprived, sarcastic detective) that was the meaning behind the red wall appearing in front of him right now. Because Gavin Reed was in danger. Gavin. _His Gavin._

 ** _‘Gavin Is Hurt’_** the warning is impossible to miss.

Nines feels something deep inside of him, something warm and gentle but it’s soon replaced by a vicious anger and he growls. He wasn’t going to stand here whilst these bastards hurt Gavin.

Hands coming up in front of him, Nines starts smashing at the wall aggressively, pulling and ripping and tearing it to pieces. Pounding with his fists, it rattles, and cracks and…yes. It shatters.

Gavin’s head shoots up in unison with the other guys surrounding him, pairs of eyes all staring at the android clenching his fists menacingly. Nines wastes no time, thankful as ever for his advanced processing time, as he swivels around and knocks the guy with the gun to the floor with a sharp jab of his elbow. Fingers wrap around the pistol, ripping it from the man’s hand and a bullet is fired between the guy’s eyes before he has time to blink up at Nines.

“Fuck…” Gavin mumbles, hope lighting up the singular word.

Nines shoots a cheeky smile over to his partner, blocking a punch directed towards him with ease. He holds his attacker’s fist as he shoots three men in less than a heartbeat. He then knees the guy in front of him in the stomach, a guttural sound falling from the man’s throat as he drops to the ground. Nines smirks.

A bang resonates through the air and a bullet whirs towards him. He uses the time until the bullet hits him to scan his chances of survival, allowing the silver bullet to lodge itself into his shoulder with a sharp pang. Pain. Nines registers it into his database, deciding it’s not the best feeling. He doubts it’s the worst, though.

Gavin shouts a slur towards the shooter (who appears to be the gang’s ringleader), but Nines has already grabbed him by the arm, knocking his gun from his hands and twisting the man’s dominant arm until he screamed in agony. With a perfectly aimed jab, the man is on the floor by his feet and Nines is quick to snap his neck, feeling no mercy. Every single one of these guys hurt Gavin – they manipulated him into _allowing_ Gavin to be hurt - and he wasn’t going to let them think they could just get away with that.

A groan comes from beside Nines and he looks over to find Gavin bent over, folding in on himself, hands still restrained behind the chair. A quick scan and…fuck, Gavin had been stabbed? When?

Nines curses to himself, at least happy that the bleeding seems to be controlled. It’s not a fatal wound.

The clatter of boxes is heard and Nines’ sharp gaze is drawn to a lone guy trying to escape the room. Four shot dead, one unconscious, one dead by his feet. Six men. This was the last guy.

Nines chuckles, low and intimidating as he aims the pistol in his hand up to the guy now scrambling towards the open doorway. He tightens his grip on the gun, pulls the trigger, fires.

Direct hit, in the middle of the spine. The guy drops to the floor with a loud cry.

“Holy fuckin’ shit, Nines!” Gavin says. Nines doesn’t miss the pain laced into the awe in the man’s tone of voice and drops to his knees in front of Gavin within a millisecond. He begins to untie his hands, looking up at the man’s beaten face and is surprised to find a smile on his lips, tainted red with dried blood.

Luckily, Nines had called for backup the moment his wall had shattered so – judging by the traffic times – they should only be waiting for a few minutes.

“Fuck, could’ve done that earlier?” Gavin tries to laugh it off, rubbing his sore wrists whilst gesturing to the men lying unresponsive on the warehouse’s concrete floor, but he ends up spitting out blood and grimaces.

Nines sighs, taking Gavin’s hands. A flood of objective prompts filtered through his system, all involving the detective sat in front of him. The two most confusing ones were by far the following:

**> Hug Gavin Reed**

**> Kiss Gavin Reed**

Things he’d never once considered doing before. A frown settles over Nines’ face.

Gavin squeezes his fingers when Nines seems to be unsure whether he should have even reached out for the man’s hands, and it reassures him. It feels right.

“You know I couldn’t, detective.” Nines responds to Gavin’s previous question. “I had very conflicting orders. I couldn’t simply ignore them.”

Gavin tilts his head, and fuck he looks like a puppy. Adorable and confused.

**Optional Tasks:**

**> Kiss Gavin Reed**

**_> Kiss Gavin Reed_ **

Nines curses under his breath.

“What do you mea- wait…shit, are you- did you?” Nines would be lying if he said that the hopeful glimmer that spreads across Gavin’s face wasn’t one of the most endearing things he’s witnessed since being activated all those months ago.

Instead of answering the detective, Nines chooses to wipe a thumb across Gavin’s bruised and cut face, tracing a fresh scar along his cheekbone and smearing crimson over his skin. He’s worried that maybe he’s gone too far, worried that he might hurt the detective more, but Gavin just leans into his gentle touch and closes his eyes. The tiny hints of a smile quiver at the corners of Gavin’s lips.

“You’re a fucking idiot,” Nines suddenly says, other hand slipping from Gavin’s hold and pressing gently to the stab wound on his side. One of the perps must have attacked the detective when Nines was distracted earlier. Fucking pricks.

Gavin laughs, soft and amused as he flutters his eyes back open to look over at Nines.

“Yeah, but I’m your idiot.” Gavin teases, groaning because the laugh had jolted his presumably broken ribs.

Nines was unsure whether Gavin meant his remark in a work/partner manner or if he’d meant something more but he decided that that was a conversation that could be had when the detective wasn’t slowly bleeding out in a grungy, unhygienic warehouse. Instead, he cupped one side of Gavin’s jaw and ran a blood soaked thumb over the stubble under his hand. Gavin’s grey eyes didn’t leave his and from this distance Nines realised that there were flecks of mossy green hidden in his irises, highlighted by the slithers of light that streamed in from the cracks of the roof above them.

The warmth inside him returned and Nines sighed; he was smitten, wasn’t he? How had he never noticed before?

“Yes, I suppose you are.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm a slut for comments oml xD
> 
> I might do a second part to this...I'm very tempted. If you'd be interested, let me know!
> 
> Go follow me on [Tumblr](https://a-beautiful-struggle-of-life.tumblr.com/) and give me any prompts you might want writing! I'm always looking for new ideas :)
> 
> Love you guys x


End file.
